This Little Piggy
Episode #6; Original Airdate - August 28th, 2004 "This Little Piggy" aired August 28th, 2004. Plot Wonder Woman accompanies Batman on a stakeout, based on a tip that Intergang plans to steal the Rosetta Stone. As they wait, all her attempts to flirt are rebuffed by Batman, emphasizing the differences between them. When the robbery occurs, they find the thief is actually the sorceress and goddess Circe, mortal enemy of Hippolyta , Wonder Woman's mother. Although banished to Tartarus by Hippolyta, she has now been paroled and her first act of freedom is to transform Wonder Woman - to Batman's shock - into a pig. Batman approaches the stage magician Zatanna after her show, who happens to have real magical powers, and is aware of Circe's release. Although she attempts to return Wonder Woman to normal, her powers can't overcome those of the goddess. Batman requests they keep the situation between the two of them, and Zatanna promises to help both him and Wonder Woman, although she intuits that only Circe can reverse the change. Zatanna leads them to a shopkeeper specializing in magical artifacts to purchase a missing ingredient for her locater spell. He reminds her that every element of magic requires a price (that is not monetary), and forces her to reluctantly hand over a valuable mystic item of her own. Despite the potency of the spell, Circe proves too powerful to be found so easily, and because of the spell's flashiness, the transformed Wonder Woman escapes. Batman and Zatanna give chase, but not before she takes back her mystic item. Unable to find Wonder Woman, Batman calls on the aid of B'wana Beast and several other League members to locate her. B'wana Beast finds her, but she evades him when she runs into a pork processing factory amidst a throng of hundreds of pigs. Batman and Zatanna request the aid of Themis (the Greek deity of Justice--it is presumed Zatanna summoned her), who brings them Medusa, Circe's former cellmate, who reveals Circe's burning desire to perform at the Amphitheater on Mykonos. Meanwhile, the transformed Wonder Woman attempts to escape from being processed, frustrating a butcher's efforts to capture her. Zatanna teleports them to the Amphitheater, and they confront Circe, who attacks them by transforming her stage cohorts into wild animals. At the same time, the transformed Wonder Woman is caught, tied up, and put on a conveyor belt towards a processing machine. After fending off the first onslaught of animals, Batman suggests making an exchange for returning Wonder Woman to normal. Circe, intrigued, agrees to transform Diana back, but only in exchange for something incredibly precious from Batman--something he's concealed and when gone, can never be regained. He pays the price by revealing a suave singing voice in a performance of "Am I Blue?" so touching it moves both Zatanna and Circe to tears. Circe returns Wonder Woman to normal just in time for her to escape the factory. After his performance (which receives riotous applause from the Amphitheater's crowd), Batman thanks Zatanna for her help. Afterwards, in the League Watchtower, Batman and Wonder Woman discuss the night's events. She claims not to remember much of what happened and asks if she missed anything. He replies, nothing much. She teases him by humming "Am I Blue?" before walking away. Cast Music *Circe sings the big band standard "Lulu's Back in Town" (composed by Harry Warren) during her performance at the Amphitheater. Rachel York, who voices Circe, is a critically acclaimed Broadway singer. *"Am I Blue?", the song Batman sings at the end of the episode, is a jazz standard composed by Harry Akst with Grant Clarke. *Both the featured songs in this episode are ones to which Warner Brothers owns the copyrights. *The producers of the show wanted to modify the lyrics to "Lulu's Back in Town" by replacing "Lulu" with "Circe", but the studio told them this was not allowed. *Kevin Conroy had previously exhibited his fine singing voice for an episode of , and so the producers were confident in giving him "Am I Blue?" Trivia *In the DVD commentary of this episode, the producers admit that this episode was intended to be an entirely comic episode, with elements reminiscent of the original Bewitched television show: rife with slapstick, over-the-top performances, and other dry humor. In particular, the show ends with a musical cue similar to that show's, on Batman's wry smile. *Jack Carter is also a veteran of such shows. *The producers also allude to a scene that was cut from the final print of the episode: soon after Wonder Woman is turned into a pig, there would be a scene where the Joker and his gang attempt a heist which was meant to be a trap for Batman. At that time, Batman would pass by their sight, consoling a pig in his arms. After staring blankly at the scene, Joker would comically give up on the job. * While Batman and Wonder Woman are observing the people coming out of the Iceberg Lounge, one of Bruce's previous girlfriends (Who threw her drink over him in "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" at Wayne's mansion party) can be seen getting into a cab. *When Zatanna first appeared in the DC Animated Universe, she was an ordinary stage magician, without magical powers. *The Crimson Avenger's one-liner is his only speaking appearance in the series. Literary References *Circe, the DC Comics character, is based on the character from Homer's Odyssey. *Other references to Greek Mythology include Medusa, the Sirens, Sisyphus, and Charon, the ferryman across the River Styx. *Batman gives two pennies to Charon as a "service charge," a reference to the fact that the Greeks would traditionally bury their dead with coins on their eyes or under their tongues, as "payment" for transportation to the afterlife. Crew *Written by Paul Dini *Directed by Dan Riba *Music by Lolita Ritmanis *Animation by Dong Yang Animation Other characters that appear in this episode *Elongated Man References *Lulu's Back In Town *Am I Blue? *Iceberg Lounge *Intergang Category:JLU episodes